Labor and Likud kicked off their election campaigns on consecutive days this week, amid indications that neither party holds a clear lead two months before the Nov. 1 election.
Survey results released last week from polling concerns working for both Labor and Likud showed the two parties in a virtual dead heat. But the pollsters stressed this week that the proportion of undecided voters is some 13 to 17 percent — a higher ratio of undecided voters than in previous campaigns.
Dr. Mina Zemach, whose Dahaf concern does polling for the Likud, told a news conference Tuesday that there are indications of a small but significant swing to the right among first-time voters.
But Dr. Batami Horowitz, whose Desima organization is contracted by Labor, pointed out that Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the Labor leader, enjoys a greater degree of relative popularity than Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of Likud.
Whether this popularity translates into votes remains to be seen, since under Israel’s proportional representation system, citizens vote for parties, not candidates.
Likud opened its campaign Tuesday with a daylong bus tour for hundreds of party activists. The tour climaxed with a mass rally at the Jerusalem convention center, where the party’s top leadership was expected to address the faithful.
DEBATE OVER THE TERRITORIES
The Likud caravan traversed the country bearing the message that Israel’s continued control of the administered areas is vital for its security.
“The Labor Alignment is not afraid of the 1967 borders — that’s what makes us afraid of the Labor Alignment” read scores of placards, accusing Labor of advocating the return of all remaining lands captured in the Six-Day War.
Labor’s opening gambit was a spirited rally Monday night at Tel Aviv’s Mann Auditorium, featuring all of the party’s top leaders.
In his address, Peres emphasized the campaign slogan “The Way to a Breakthrough.” The foreign minister said the nation faces a choice “between an Israel dragged inexorably toward war and an Israel surging towards peace, between an ossified leadership and an initiating leadership.”
Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Labor’s No. 2 man, compared what he called the party’s unity with “deep fissures” within the highest echelon of the Likud.
While both parties to what is supposed to be a government of national unity remain as far apart as ever, their respective pollsters were at least able to agree that the top priority for voters is the uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which this week enters its 10th month.
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